


it's an instinct, a feeling...

by spaceprincefinn (wanderingwriter)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-19 05:10:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingwriter/pseuds/spaceprincefinn
Summary: finn is trying to be a responsible adult but his new neighbor keeps interrupting his routines
Relationships: Finn & Jannah (Star Wars), Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	1. One

Finn did the same thing every morning. He actually preferred it that way. It was nice to have a schedule and some sense of stability. He knew that every morning he would wake up at 7:00am, have his cereal, make his coffee, and then go to work. On weekends he did the same thing, except 7:00am became 9:00am and he could enjoy his coffee at home with a book. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the weekend yet and Finn’s coffee went into his travel mug to accompany him to another day of work. 

Rey was on his couch when he returned for the day, her boots already thrown beside the door. “Jannah is getting dressed,” she said by way of explanation, glancing up from her phone to smile at him in greeting. 

“Are we going somewhere?” Finn was somehow always the last to know about their plans, even though he’d created a group chat for them for this exact reason. It was pretty much only used to send memes back and forth, though. Rey and his sister were not big planners. “Do I need to change too?”

“It’s just dinner, Finn. Put on some jeans so you don’t look lame. And I did text you about this like an hour ago.”

Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, “Oh.” That’s what he got for being a good employee and not checking his phone at work. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

They went to their usual spot--a small ramen restaurant a block over that barely fit ten people but was always busy. Jannah and Rey went out for drinks afterward and Finn begged off to go back home. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hang out with them, he was just tired. To him, it was perfect that Rey and Jannah had become such good friends so quickly. It had been just him and Jannah since they’d moved out of their foster home together, and he’d been worried that another person might not fit in to their little family. He shouldn’t have been. He’d loved Rey since their first day of work together, back at a shitty clothing store in a mall that he still couldn’t walk passed without shuddering. Jannah had taken a little longer to come around, but now they were the perfect trio and Finn wouldn’t trade that for the world. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next week, something new entered Finn’s morning routine. It started as music blaring at a stoplight, much too loud than it had any right to be at 7:30am. He looked around to find its source and his eyes landed on one of the ugliest cars he’d ever seen in front of him in the next lane. It was a gaudy orange with white panels and...Christ, were those actually dice hanging from his rearview mirror? The light turned before he could investigate any more and after a few streets, the car was gone. But then the next day, it was back, another few cars away from him. By the next week, Finn was becoming accustomed to the loud music and obnoxious color when he finally pulled up beside the car and could see its driver for the first time. The music was loud right next to him, but he actually also hear a voice now--singing along just as loudly. Finn laughed as he snuck a few glances next to him, although he shouldn’t have bothered with being sneaky, this guy was in his own world.  
The driver was belting to match the volume of his radio, drumming on every surface in front of him until the light changed. He looked older than Finn, already graying around his temples but it suited him. He turned off the street after a few minutes and Finn continued with his day, curiosity satisfied. It wasn’t until a few days later that he saw the car right across from his own apartment and realized that this was going to be a permanent part of his mornings. It looked like Ugly Car Guy was his new neighbor.


	2. Two

Finn’s life went on as normal: cereal, coffee, stoplight karaoke, work, and repeat. He switched off making dinners with Jannah, often times with Rey as a sous chef. She wasn’t a very good cook herself, but she did bring them groceries and that was all the skill she needed to be invited to dinner. They spent their nights complaining about the people at work and watching too many TV shows and Finn couldn’t ask for more. 

Well...mostly. He’d learned not to be picky, and having two people that he loved who loved him back? That was not something he’d ever complain about. He’d spent his life waiting to turn eighteen and be able to have his own place, his own room, his own family. Now he was twenty-five and he’d done it. He had a perfect sister that had been with him through thick and thin, he had a best friend, he had a room full of his own things arranged just the way he wanted them. This was the goal that he’d been focused on for so long that now he didn’t know what to want. 

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Finn groaned, pressing his forehead into the steering wheel. This is not what he wanted. This was the last thing he wanted, actually. A car horn blared going past him and he threw his middle finger up at the receding license plate. Smoking. His car was smoking. That was only supposed to happen in movies. He pulled out his phone and called Jannah, praying that she answered before the panic rose any further in his chest. 

“What’s up?” His sister’s voice came through the speaker and he instantly felt himself start to relax. Sort of. 

“Jannah, my car is smoking. Smoking. I pulled off the road but now I’m stuck here and I can’t afford this shit. I need a car. What if it’s fucked, what if-”

“Hey, hey! Finn, relax, hold on a second,” he could hear the noise in the background getting softer, like she was walking away. “Okay. Is anything on fire?”

“No, it’s not on fire. I think.” Finn looked warily at the hood of the car like it might explode. It couldn’t do that, right? “I’m gonna have to get this towed and then pay for whatever is wrong with it. How am I going to get to work?”

“Don’t worry about that. Let’s just get it to a shop and see what’s wrong. We’ll deal with it from there. Do you need me to pick you up?” Jannah had that tone of concern and care in her voice that she got whenever Finn started to spiral. He took a deep breath. 

“You don’t have to. Really, I’m fine. I’ll just look up the closest shop and ride in the tow truck. I’ll give you a call when I’m there, okay?”

“.....Okay. Just let me know. I love you.”

“I love you too, sis.” Finn hung up and took another deep breath, and then another. He’d been through worse, he’d figure this out. 

Five minutes of googling later and he’d called both a tow truck and the closest shop to where he was, which was thankfully only a few miles away and had pretty good reviews. It was almost an hour until he was sitting in the repair shop, leg nervously bouncing up and down while he waited for the news. He couldn’t afford a big repair right now, but he certainly couldn’t afford to not have a way to work either. He was about to start googling the closest place to sell plasma when he noticed the bright flash of orange outside. Sure enough, there was his neighbor stepping out of the eyesore with takeout bags in both arms. Finn watched him curiously as he walked through a side door and then disappeared, only to reappear a minute later behind the desk.  
“Finn?” He looked up from the computer at the only occupied chair in the place and smiled. “I guess that’s you.”

Finn nodded and stood, moving towards the desk. The man was looking at him closely, almost in recognition. “Hey, you live in my apartment complex, right? I always see you in the morning.”

Finn nodded again, a little surprised. He hadn’t thought his neighbor had noticed him all those mornings.

“Poe. It’s nice to meet you.” Poe stuck out a hand over the desk and Finn took it, returning his smile. At least he could stop calling him Ugly Car Guy now. “So we’ve got good news for you, Finn. The engine is fine, but you’ve got a leaky valve cover gasket.”

Finn felt like bobble-head with the amount of nodding he was doing. He didn’t know what a valve cover gasket was but it still sounded like more than he could pay. “And...how much will that cost?” He tried to sound casual, but it came out more like he was anticipating a punch in the gut.   
Poe looked at him for a moment and then rested his elbows on the desk between them, leaning in conspiratorially. Finn instinctively leaned in too. “One hundred, even. Just don’t tell anyone I gave you the friends and neighbors discount.”

After blinking a few times, Finn grinned. He could manage that much, and he was pretty sure he’d just gotten a very nice, underserved discount. “Thank you. Really, I appreciate it. You have no idea how much.” He could finally feel the knot of stress in his stomach slowly untangle.

Poe smiled at him, standing up straight again. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. I can have it done for you tomorrow and you’ll be on your way.”

Finn was very thankful when, two days later, he was back on the road to work. This time, he waved when he passed Poe in his rolling orange concert hall. Poe winked back at him, not even pausing in his singing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't get this out of my head so here we go. come yell at me on [tumblr](https://spaceprincefinn.tumblr.com) to finish this, i need the motivation.


	3. Three

Another paycheck came and went and Finn’s bank account mostly healed from the car mishap. He figured he might as well be a good roommate and pick up some groceries, especially since he’d eaten the last of the popcorn the night before. Almost everything was checked off his mental shopping list when he ran into a familiar face in the snack aisle. 

“Hey! Finn, right?”

Finn paused, caught off guard briefly, and then smiled when the recognition hit him. “Yeah. And it’s Poe?”

“Good memory.” Poe looked pleased at this dropped the bag he was holding into his shopping cart. “So how’s the car running?”

“Not even a little smoke. Thank you. Again.”

“You’re welcome. Again.” 

Poe smiled at him then and Finn waited a beat, waiting for the other man to walk away now that he’d clearly gotten his snack. But Poe did not seem to mind keeping the conversation going. He asked Finn about the area as they fell into step with one another and moved to the next aisle. It was completely unexpected, but weirdly, kind of nice. Finn rarely got to talk to people that weren’t his co-workers, Jannah, or Rey. He also wasn’t the best at small talk, which ended a lot of conversations pretty quickly. Poe, however, looked perfectly comfortable shopping beside him and keeping the conversation afloat. They talked about the apartment complex, their jobs, and which frozen foods actually tasted good as they wound their way through the rest of the store. Finn picked up a few things that weren’t on his list just to have something to do with his hands.

They stayed together up to the checkout line, where Finn reached over and grabbed a small bag of peanut M&Ms on instinct. Poe smiled.  
“Are those your go-to snack?” He asked.

Finn laughed and shrugged. “They’ve always been my favorite. Ever since I was a kid.”

“Some things stick with you.” Poe said, gesturing to a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in his own cart.

Finn was still running their conversation over in his head when he walked into his apartment and dumped the grocery bags on the table, amidst angry shouts. One glance at the couch told him all he needed to know: Jannah and Rey were playing MarioKart again. 

“Fuck! Could you aim at _anyone_ else, maybe?” Rey had her serious face on and was leaning forward like it would make her go any faster. 

“You were getting too close.” Jannah was also leaning forward and moving her whole body into every turn her character took on screen. Finn shook his head and started unloading the groceries to put in their respective cabinets. He plopped down on the couch just in time to see Jannah win the race and Rey drop her controler in defeat.

“Whatever, I’m going to pee.” Rey stood and Finn and Jannah exchanged amused looks. They both knew she was just going to the bathroom to angrily scroll through Instagram until she calmed down. Rey was always a sore loser. 

“I ran into that Poe guy at the grocery store. The mechanic.” Finn watched his sister’s profile as she scrolled through games on the tv. 

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. We, uh, talked a little.”

Jannah paused. “ _Oh yeah_?” Now she was smiling. “What about?”

“Don’t say it like that. It was a friendly conversation about stupid stuff. He’s nice.” Finn picked up his phone and pretended to be looking at something so he wouldn’t have to see the look Jannah was giving him. “It wasn’t flirting, he probably just doesn’t know anyone around here.” That was probably it, right? Poe just moved, maybe he wanted a friend.

“Uh huh.” Jannah winked at him and they both laughed. 

“Shut up.” Finn gave her shoulder a little shove and they fell back into companionable silence.

A few days later, Finn got into his car and was about to turn the key when he noticed a flash of yellow that didn’t belong on his windshield. A closer look revealed a bag of peanut M&Ms, the corner tucked up under the wipers to keep it in place. Finn grinned and swallowed down the little butterflies that were flapping away in his stomach. He didn’t tell Jannah about the surprise snack. He also didn’t tell her about the bag of hot cheetos that he bought on his way home to return the favor.

**Author's Note:**

> i couldn't get this out of my head so here we go. come yell at me on [tumblr](https://spaceprincefinn.tumblr.com) to finish this, i need the motivation.


End file.
